USS Spangler
1943 Buckley-class destroyer escort
USS Spangler (DE-696) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy.
Namesake
Donald Hays Spangler was born on 29 May 1918 in Albion, Indiana. He was appointed midshipman at the United States Naval Academy on 8 July 1938 and commissioned Ensign on 19 December 1941. He reported for duty on the USS Atlanta at Boston, Massachusetts, on 3 January 1942. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant (junior grade) to date from 1 October 1942. He was killed in action when Atlanta was heavily damaged during the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands on 13 November 1942.
Construction and commissioning
Spangler was laid down on 28 April 1943 at the Defoe Shipbuilding Company, Bay City, Michigan. She was launched on 15 July 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Myrtle Spangler; and commissioned on 31 October 1943, with Lieutenant Commander W. A. Burgett in command.
Service history
World War II, 1943–1945
After shakedown in the vicinity of Bermuda, Spangler joined a convoy on 24 December 1943, and headed for the Pacific via the Panama Canal.
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This entry incorporates text from “USS Spangler” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.